Nugget Pulls Out of Railyard Development

NUGGET OUT: Nugget Markets was originally selected for the project because it has been a family-owned operation since opening in 1926, and ranks on Forbes top 100 best companies to work for in the country — 13th in 2016. Courtesy photo modified by Moonshine Ink

Nugget Markets officially pulled out of the Truckee Railyard development this week after determining the area would not be able to support it as well as two other new grocery developments approved in the last two months: a Raley’s at Soaring Way, and a Grocery Outlet at Gateway. The loss of its cornerstone grocer puts an important component of the Railyard project, which has already endured its shares of hurdles, up in the air.

“To take the one prospect of a really great grocery store out of downtown Truckee, I don’t know how you can conclude it to be anything other than incredibly damaging,” said Douglas Wiele, president of Foothill Partners, the developer working with Nugget on the project. “It’s not clear to me whether there is a solution; we may just walk away from the whole thing … the Town has decided that sprawl is more important than the downtown.”

Wiele clarified that it is far too early to say what will happen with the Railyard, and there are no concrete plans for Foothill to leave at the moment, but that it will be difficult to find another grocer to fill Nugget’s spot. Denyelle Nishimori, community development director for the Town of Truckee, mentioned that both Raley’s and Safeway have shown interest in occupying the space with a smaller store. The Railyard Master Plan allows for a 35,000-square-foot grocery store, approximately the same size as the Truckee Safeway.

“There’s a variety of other uses and things that are anticipated to happen in the Railyard that could still happen, it’s just up to the developer to bring those forward. The Town is not in that role,” Nishimori stated. “We’re the ones that can help guide and say, ‘Here’s what the documents are, this is what we think makes sense for this area based on the planning for it, and all that community work that went into it,’ but ultimately, we’re not the developer.”

Raley’s was approved by the Truckee Town Council on Tuesday, whereas Grocery Outlet has, at the time of this article, been approved by the planning commission and is awaiting a decision by the town council.

The Town planning commission’s approval of Raley’s in February was quickly appealed with opponents claiming that Truckee will not be able to support another full-size grocery store, in addition to existing ones and the Railyard grocery store, which was included in the approved master plan. The council also denied this appeal on Tuesday.

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